The Stunt Man

The Stunt Man is a 1980 American film directed by Richard Rush, starring Peter O'Toole, Steve Railsback and Barbara Hershey. The movie was adapted by Lawrence B. Marcus and Rush from the novel by Paul Brodeur. It tells the story of a young fugitive who hides as a stunt double on the set of an anti-war movie whose charismatic director will do seemingly anything for the sake of his art. It was nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Actor in a Lea... more

The Stunt Man is a 1980 American film directed by Richard Rush, starring Peter O'Toole, Steve Railsback and Barbara Hershey. The movie was adapted by Lawrence B. Marcus and Rush from the novel by Paul Brodeur. It tells the story of a young fugitive who hides as a stunt double on the set of an anti-war movie whose charismatic director will do seemingly anything for the sake of his art. It was nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Actor in a Leading Role (Peter O'Toole), Best Director (Richard Rush), and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium. However, due to its limited release, it never earned much attention from American audiences at large. As O'Toole remarked in a DVD audio commentary, "The film wasn't released, it escaped." Cameron (Steve Railsback) is a young veteran running from the police. He stumbles onto the set of a World War I movie and accidentally causes the death of one of the film's stunt men. The eccentric and autocratic director, Eli Cross ... less